Only Three Years
by Vega Potter
Summary: A young blonde one day discovered that she has powers, magical powers to be exact. She is to attend Hogwarts but... she is three years older than her classmates. By the way, the young celebrity, Harry Potter, is entering his seventh year...
1. Chapter 1

Only Three Years

Written by Vega Potter

**Chapter 1**

**Ripping the wax seal**

She opened her mouth in awe, and some cereal spilt out of it. An owl had just flown into the window. She looked away for one second, and the owl was gone. She faced forward, to watch the television, and the owl was sitting on top of it. He was rather pretty, feathered black and blue in the eyes. When he saw her looking, he flew onto her lap. In his beak, he had a letter, written on yellowing parchment, in green ink. She took it from him. She ripped the wax seal, and opened it. It contained one letter, written in cursive. She read it out loud to herself to be sure she was not imagining things.

_Dear Valentine Porter,_

_I am so sorry that you had to wait until you were 14 to get your letter. I can explain. You have been accepted into Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry. The reason for this being so late was a very stupid mix-up by the minister of magic. (He even admits it) You should send your response by Owl as soon as possible. We hope to see you as a first year at our school when September comes. _

_-Professor M. McGonagall _

Valentine read the letter over three times. The owl was still staring at her.

"MOM!"

"What Val?" called her mother from upstairs.

"You might want to come down here."

Marianne Porter was a short, brown haired woman and when she got downstairs she shrieked at the sight of the owl.

"Get it out of my house! NOW!"

"He won't leave. I've tried. He's waiting for a response to this." Valentine handed her mother the letter. She watched as her face turned from being surprised, to being angry.

"What practical jokers! Hah! Everyone knows there's no such thing as magic! You'll do fine at the public school honey."

She set it down on the table. Both of the women stared at it for a moment. Valentine spoke first.

" Mom," she said apprehensively, " if it is real, can I go? I don't have any real friends here, we just moved. I won't miss anything, I'm already the best in my class."

Before she had time to answer, another owl flew through the window. Valentine ripped the letter out of its beak and tore it open. The same handwriting as before was on this one too.

_Dear Valentine,_

_I will be intruding upon your household at 5:00 sharp. _

_-Professor M. McGonagall_

Valentine looked at the clock. 4:59. Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one. The doorbell rang out through the silence that had now filled the house. Her mother motioned for her to go and get the door. Valentine walked over to the door, her long, wavy, blonde hair bouncing after her. She opened the door and standing there straightening her robes was a very cross-looking woman with a pointed hat.

The woman held out her hand. " Hello. You must be Valentine. I am Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress at Hogwarts. I believe I have some explaining to do."

"Please sit down." Said Ms. Porter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Shoving everything (except the dress)**

All three of the women sat down in different chairs. Marianne sat rigid, nervous. Valentine sat curled in her chair. She was attentive and trying to be patient. Professor McGonagall sat comfortably, though she still looked cross. No one spoke for a moment, and then McGonagall spoke.

" I am the headmistress for a school called Hogwarts. It is a school to train witches and wizards to learn to use magic. Valentine here, just like any other child, has had their name down since they first show signs of having magic. Now we keep track of these children until they are eleven and can come to Hogwarts. One of the ministry's officials unfortunately lost track of Valentine, and they could not find her. They just yesterday, learned of your whereabouts. Under the law, you are supposed to go to school to learn how to control his or her magic. You will be staring school in four days time, and you will be leaving with me today, with your mothers' permission of course." She added.

There was a long pause. Everything the professor had said was slowly sinking into the two women's brains. Valentine was a witch. It was unbelievable. All of that weird stuff that had happened in the past, wasn't just accidents. It was for real.

"What do I need to take?" asked Valentine suddenly.

Professor McGonagall looked started for a moment, and then came to her senses.

"Only the things that you cannot live without for one year. Diaries, stuffed animals, oh, and you'll need some free time clothes. You'll get your other things with me."

"What? Did I give permission for you to go Val? I did not. My decision is strong. You will not go to a school that I know nothing about." Said Marianne with a look of strong disgust.

"Oh, that reminds me. I brought the schools information pamphlet. I got the first copy. You'll see that we have excellent marks with the ministry." Replied the professor.

"I see." She flipped through the pamphlet. "Well… yes, they do have good marks…well…I suppose…its alright, I guess. You just have to get good marks all year."

"Thank you! Thank you! Mom, just, thank you! I'll see you later, I promise!" And with that Valentine quickly left the room to collect her things.

She took the stairs two at a time. When she got to the room, she paused, what was she supposed to take? She figured she'd take her would-be prom dress, just in case. She decided to take a photo album, to put pictures she took in it with her new friends. She took some stationary and some books. Once she was satisfied with what she had, she shoved everything (except the dress) roughly into a bag. She carefully folded the dress. She jogged back downstairs, and found Professor McGonagall waiting for her by the door. She gave her mother a kiss goodbye, and left.

Valentine and the professor walked a little ways down the road, when she threw out her arm, holding her wand, and a loud BANG was heard. Almost out of nowhere, a purple triple Decker bus was almost on top of them. A young, pimply man jumped out of the bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus. My name is Stan, and I will be your conductor today, please step inside."

Valentine followed Professor McGonagall onto the bus, and took a seat next to her.

"Where exactly are we going?" Valentine asked as the bus banged loudly and jerked randomly and suddenly.

"Diagon Alley." She answered. And then, more to herself than to Val, "Dumbledore was so much better at explaining these things. Valentine, you know why you're here, with me, don't you?" Val shook her head. "Well, there was a horrible mix up at the ministry of magic, the minister can be such a fool. Well he and his workers lost track of you right before you were suppose to come to school. We misplaced you for three years, and when they caught track of you today, I headed straight over. See, we keep track of different children who show signs of magic, until they come to school." She paused. "You will be starting school with the first years. You will get sorted just like them, and hopefully, with a little tutoring, you will advance to the year with your age."

" Who will my tutor be?" She asked, her head full of a need to get her hands on things that tell her more about the wizarding world.

" Miss Hermione Granger. She's a prefect, and she's head of her class. She's in 7th year."

Most of the rest of the ride was silent. Valentines head was buzzing with excitement. She was a witch, and she wanted to get her hands on some of the things that would help her understand her newfound self.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

**A red head, brunette, and black hair dude walks out of a store…**

They banged along in relative silence for another half hour. When they reached Diagon Alley, Stan ushered them out of the Knight Bus, and Valentine gasped as her feet hit the pavement. She was standing in a street full of men, women, and children. Most of these people were wearing long robes of varying colors. On each side of the road were loads of different stores each containing many different things for the average witch or wizard. Professor McGonagall was quickly ushering her into a shop where you were supposed to by robes for school.

"I will be back before long. Madam Malkin will be taking care of you. See you in a bit." And with that, Professor McGonagall left the building and walked up the road.

Uncertain of what to do, Valentine stood there uneasily. She jumped at the sound of a woman's voice.

"You here for Hogwarts?" asked Madam Malkin.

"Yes." Said Valentine, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice, talking to complete strangers was not something she did.

"Well step right up here then, we'll get you measured and fitted."

As Valentine stepped onto a stool a measuring tape started measuring all parts of her body. Just before Madam Malkin shoved some robes over her head, she caught a glimpse of three people walking out of the shop. One was tall and redheaded, the other with black hair, and one with long, brown bushy hair. When she had finished, she left the shop with her bag of robes.

As she got out of the shop, she wondered where Professor McGonagall was. As she looked around, Valentine saw her sitting on a bench not too far away. She walked over, Professor McGonagall stood up.

"Have you got your robes?" she looked inside Valentines bag. "Good, Good. I have taken the liberty of getting your books, quills, parchment, and cauldron. Now all you need to get is a pet, if you wish, and a wand. Wand first." And with that Professor McGonagall guided her into the wand shop.

The man at the wand shop also measured her. She tried out about six wands, and then finally settled on one that was 13 and a half inches long, and contained a hair of mermaid. Personally, Valentine didn't care what was in it. It was beautiful. Nice, dark wood, and it was very shiny, like it had just been polished. After she pocketed her wand, she went into the pet store.

It smelled very bad in there, on account of the fact that there were about 100 animals in the shop, and they were all very noisy. She walked around the shop for about ten minutes, trying to decide between a cat or an owl. Professor McGonagall pointed out that owls were much more useful than cats. Valentine then settled on a tiny, black and white owl with green eyes.

When they got to the Leaky cauldron and got settled in, Valentine immediately cracked open a book and sat down to read. When Professor McGonagall left Valentine could have swore she could of heard her mutter something that sounded a lot like, "Yes, her and Hermione are going to get along fine."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Mayflower Johns**

She spent the rest of her time before she had to go to Hogwarts walking around Diagon Alley, gazing into all the shops. She also soaked her brain into the all of the textbooks; she had read them all cover-to-cover well before September the 1st.

On the morning of September 1st, she was woken at eight o'clock in order to have time to get ready and to get to King's cross-station in time for the train. She quickly got dressed, excitement pulsing through every inch of her body. Finally, after a week of waiting, she was going to school. Wizards' school. Sweet.

She found Professor McGonagall sitting downstairs at a table waiting for Valentine, already eating her breakfast, Valentine's sitting next to her. Valentine sat down next to her, picking up her fork and began eating. They ate in an uncomfortable silence, until Valentine broke it.

" How am I getting to the school?"

" You are gong to ride the train, like the rest of the students."

" Oh, ok." Valentine replied. Somehow, she was expecting something much more exciting and magical.

They walked to Kings Cross station, seeing as it wasn't a very far walk. As they entered the station, Val looked at her ticket.

"Platform 9 ¾? How are we going to get there? Plus, the train leaves at 11. Its only 10 o clock."

"Oh, well," Replied Professor McGonagall, " I needed to get you here early, because I need to get back early enough to meet the first years and get re-settled. You just walk right through a barrier to get to the platform."

"Yeah, right."

They walked a little farther on and suddenly Professor McGonagall stopped right in front of a barrier, and Valentine walked right into her.

"Sorry dear." Said Professor McGonagall as she picked Valentine up off the ground. " What you have to do now, is walk straight through the wall, and you will get right onto the platform. I'll do it with you."

Professor McGonagall firmly grabbed Valentines arm and steered her at the barrier. Valentine gasped as they walked straight through and suddenly, sitting before them, was a gleaming train.

Valentine gathered up her things and said goodbye to Professor McGonagall.

"Thanks for all you help. Goodbye."

"Goodbye. And don't worry; we will see each other soon."

Valentine boarded the train to get a compartment. It wasn't very hard; there was practically no one else even on the station. She chose one about half way down from the front, she put her stuff into the luggage rack, and she pulled on her robes, pulled out a book, and started reading. Soon the train started filling up, but Val didn't notice; she was much too engrossed in her reading. In her mind no one seemed to notice her either, until she sneezed and looked up to see two very small girls sitting on the other side of the compartment.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there. I'm Valentine Porter. Are you new? This is my first year." Said Valentine.

" This is only your first year? Wow, we thought you were at least a fourth year, didn't we Nicole? Well, I'm Mayflower Johns, but you can call me May. And this is," May pointed to her friend, " Nicole Sampson." May said very fast and didn't take one breath the whole time while she was talking.

To that Val replied, "Oh. Well, that's nice." She hastily looked back down to her reading, for she was reading a very interesting article on dragons.


End file.
